Refraction
by Insomniac Owl
Summary: Sasuke, Naruto, a river, and a simple trick of the light. It is the child in us that is amazed by everything. It is the child whose views we need.


Refraction

By Insomniac Owl

-

From the time Sasuke was little, he could remember nearly everything. Not just stances, or lessons, but everything else as well. Like the look on his mothers face when he came in one afternoon from training, one hand coated in blood. And the strange expression in Itachi's eyes when he touched Sasuke's face, gently, with one finger outstretched.

One of the first memories he has is when he was four, perhaps five years old. He was sitting at the bank of a river (the one Shisui (was) drowned in, years later, though he didn't know that then) staring into the water. It looked normal, clear and cool, the noise of it running past him quietly. There were even a few fish downstream, their bodies gently moving to combat the current. One foot dangled past the bank, his toes not quite brushing the water.

He can't recall why no one was with him at the time, or what he was doing there to begin with, but he does remember watching with absolute fascination as he dipped his toes into the water. Before they passed through it - bright, shimmering water, the reflections of tree leaves and branches just there on the surface - his foot seemed to shift to the side. He watched it, bent down, ran his fingers down his foot just to be sure (fine) and pulled it out again. Fine. Whatever had made it change like that didn't affect him outside the water. He dropped his foot back, then his hand, watching as both seemed to separate themselves and move off to the side.

He was only four or five then, of course. (Now he knows it just refractions of light, bending before it can reach his eyes, the water acting as some sort of glass). Now, he knows better.

At the moment he's sitting at the edge of a creek, coming back from a mission that sounded harder than it was. Naruto is off somewhere behind him, trying to get a fire started. Sasuke knows he'll end up asking him to do it, but for the moment he relaxes, enjoying the quiet, the water flowing over his legs.

"Sasuke, come help me with the fire!"

He smirks, allowing his neck to loll back. He can see Naruto's head, upside down in the farthest reaches of his vision. "Can't do it yourself?" he mocks.

Naruto knows it's a bait, and doesn't respond. Instead he flops down beside Sasuke, his feet splashing into the water noisily. Sasuke winces.

"Why can't you just help out for once?" Naruto grumbles, kicking his feet. "It's not too much to ask, is it?"

"I caught the food," Sasuke replies, nodding to the two skinned hares lying on a tatami mat. They're right near the spot Naruto chose to build a fire, and the pit is filled with twigs, but cold.

"Yeah, hell of a lot of trouble _that_ was - _I_ could have done that."

"Are you finally admitting your incompetence?"

Sasuke can't help smirking, and Naruto can't help glaring.

"Bastard."

"Loser."

It's been too long, Sasuke decides, since he let himself relax like this. Too often he's caught up with missions, assignments, training, and he never has time. Life is too busy for him, but he does his best and succeeds. So has Naruto, actually. Despite Sasuke's teasing, the blond has come a long way since their genin days - he'll be Hokage in no time if he keeps his current pace.

Sasuke swings one foot, watching the ripples of water go past his leg. They've all grown up, even if - in some cases - some grew up more than others. "How's Hinata?"

Beside him, Naruto shrugs. "Fine. She's real good, actually. Pregnant too."

Sasuke smirks. "You're not completely worthless, then."

Naruto shoves him, nearly sending him into the water. One hand comes out to stop himself, but once he's resettled Sasuke doesn't push back. (He's too mature for that, isn't he….)

"What about Sakura?"

"We're not married, idiot."

"You don't _have_ to be married, bastard, you know that."

"But it helps. Besides…." Sasuke trails off, shrugging when Naruto looks over at him. "I want to be. That's all." He smirks a little then, glancing to the side where Naruto sits with one hand braced behind him, the other twirling a leaf. Naruto hasn't really grown up, despite all he's achieved. He still loves practical jokes (Sasuke can remember one he played just last week, involving a bucket of water, flour, and Tsunade's head), ramen, and Hinata. He's bound to become Hokage, but that doesn't mean he'll mature any.

"What are you staring at?" Naruto demands, and because he can't help himself, Sasuke smirks and tells the truth.

"I was just thinking how immature you are."

"And _you_ aren't?"

"I never was," Sasuke replies, getting to his feet and walking toward the fire pit. In a few minutes there is a healthy blaze going, and he hands Naruto the hares and heads back to the river. He could have caught fish if he wanted to, he sees, there are red-pink shimmers f them downstream. They aren't too far, and he almost thinks of attempting to catch them. He's not so little anymore though; the last time he fished was when he was nine. Past that it was throw Naruto in the water, throw a few kunai at the fish that leaped out.

Truth be told, he's changed more than Naruto has. There is the weight of commanding a black-ops team on his shoulders, as well as overseeing missions coordination for everyone else. He's twenty one and getting married soon, if Sakura will have him. He's an adult, simply put (because even though he was technically an adult at twelve, he was still a child, and he knew it. However much he denied it, it was always there, hovering just below the surface. Now, however, that feeling is gone, and he knows it will never come back. He'd entered another stage of life, and he could feel it around him like a tangible blanket, settling. At some level he enjoyed it, but another (much, much _smaller_) portion of him mourned the change. That was the child in him, the child that is now gone, though he can see it in Naruto plain as day.)

Sasuke can smell the hare roasting, and Naruto soon came to sit beside him again. The arrival is quieter this time, with little splashing when he dips his feet in. He keeps going, however, until he's up to his knees in ice-cold creek water, wincing at the rocks but grinning just the same.

"Come on in," he says, moving toward the center where the rocks or smoother, less jagged. Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

"You're an idiot. I'm not going to get wet."

"But - hey, cool!" Naruto stops, staring at his knees. "Look Sasuke! When I'm in the water my legs look like someone cut them off!"

"How is that cool?" Sasuke asks blandly.

"Just look!" Naruto is stepping out of the water completely, watching with fascination as his legs go under again. Sasuke knows what he means (banishing images of severed limbs from his mind, god, what's _happened_ to him in these past years?).

"It's just light," he says, watching as Naruto sinks his hands into the water, up to his elbows. "The water is refracting it, so when it reaches your eyes, it's sending a different picture than the one you're seeing above the water. That's what makes it shift your limbs, or a stick, or whatever, when you put it partially underwater."

Naruto shoots him a dirty look, one that says he couldn't care less. And indeed, he doesn't. "I don't care out about the science," he says, "it just looks cool."

(The expression on his face reminded Sasuke of a little boy a long time ago, enraptured by a simple trick of the light. Could he call that boy foolish?)

Sighing gently, Sasuke slips into the water as well, wincing at the sharp rocks his feet make contact with. He follows Naruto to the center of the stream, and looks down. Maybe he should be feeling something more than a vague sense of amusement, but that's all that comes through his mind when he sees his legs shifted to the side. Naruto has moved downstream, scaring the fish in bright flashes of red and pink, and Sasuke is alone for a moment.

(Once, he was so captivated. So enraptured. Standing there in the water, he lets a piece of that return to him.)

He lifts his feet, smiles a little, and follows after.

(It's light...)

finis


End file.
